With the money being spent on coaches a hot topic in the GAA at the moment, the figures published in Meath in recent days are interesting to see.
While the GAA remains an amateur organisation, it seems that this status often does not apply when it comes to coaches. There have been stories down through the years of coaching tickets being handed vast amounts of money at both club and inter-county level, something that has often had a blind eye turned to it.
There are various opinions out there when it comes to this matter. Some feel that it completely goes against what the GAA is supposed to be about, while others feel it is a natural progression considering the increased professionalism in the sport in recent years.
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Meath spent a large sum of money on manager & selectors in 2023
As reported by the Irish Examiner, the Meath County Board spent a total of €100,826 on 'team manager & selectors' in 2023 across Gaelic football and hurling. They would also spend a further €347,313 on 'backroom team personnel'.
The numbers were published as part of the Meath GAA annual county convention, which took place on December 1st.
This is an excerpt from the Meath GAA annual accounts.
To think the GAA have a problem with a total of €1m being spent on hurling teams in five counties, Jesus wept #gaa #expenses pic.twitter.com/t2WCXluviG— Jimmy Jests (@jimmyjests) December 6, 2023
Of that figure of just over €100,000, €76,123 was spent on the Gaelic football side and €24,703 was spent on the hurling team.
As shown above, that is almost four times the amount that was spent on the coaching tickets from the previous year.
As well as the increase in spending on the management team, Meath also massively increased spending in areas such as 'backroom team personnel', catering, and travel & accommodation in comparison to 2022.
In relation to the money spent on 'backroom team personnel', a sizeable €190,622 was spent on the footballers, with €75,988 going to the hurlers. A further €80,703 was used on the county's various development teams.
The 2023 season was Colm O'Rourke's first in charge of the county's Gaelic football side, leading them to the Tailteann Cup as well as a sixth-placed finish in Division 2 of the National Football League.
Led by Seoirse Bulfin, the hurling team won Division 2B of the National Hurling League before going on to lift the Christy Ring Cup in Croke Park back in June.
Of course, Meath are not the only county to spend huge amount of money on managers and selectors. Inter-county sides have continued to go down this route despite the protestation in many quarters.
It will be interesting to see how the situation develops over the coming years.
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